Aeraku's Apprentice Semblance Quirk
Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2020 8:19 pm
Snip. Semblance just doesn't seem fun for me to write, after trying out a couple solos. The magic feels underdeveloped and limited for a sensory magic.
I like the overall idea of this quirk. By using smell instead of the typical vision style of aura reading Aeraku has the potential to pick up on a lot of information most semblance mages would miss. It could even be used almost passively, in that he could detect auras even if he wasn't always directly facing them or looking for them. As before though, it is heavy on the benefits and doesn't really balance well overall. I do not see an issue with tying this quirk with the Tracking skill, as it seems a natural pairing at this point. He could even 'track' down the source of the scent so long as it is within the area he can detect, much like a dog hones in on a smell that interests them. His ability to do this, however, would be tied to Tracking not Semblance.
Because of its overall general usefulness and passive abilities its radius needs to be more precisely laid out here. In addition the quirk can be used to detect typically hidden sources of magic, but the scope would have to be within a couple of feet below the surface of the ground or whatever solid stone or material it is hiding behind, not a dozen feet or more. What this means is that he might be able to detect dragnoshards if they are unusually close to the surface, but it wont be like a divining rod when utilized on the surface. He would basically need to pass relatively close over where one happens to be in order to detect it. It might still be effective if he is working with a team of miners though. Also while being able to tell in general what it is he is smelling, the exact type and details would not be distinguishable until whatever is hidden is uncovered and he can get a good smell of it up close. Again this quirk seems more geared toward detection, and more fine detail would have to be discerned after the material was in his possession and he could give it a good sniff over.
Finally, because of the heavy focus on the sense of smell it doesn't really make sense that he just can't detect the emotions of a person with semblance. Instead I suggest he loses the ability to read auras visually and instead focuses entirely on using scent. You can choose to dampen his ability to understand the reading of emotions with semblance if you wish to do so for your characters development, but for the sake of balance there needs to be a bit more of a loss here.
See how these suggestions work with your quirk idea. If this is the direction you would like to